Course Syllabus

Spring 2024 | AHS-2120-VO02 - Wellness for Life

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Alison Despathy
View Faculty Credentials

Hiring Coordinator for this course: Ryan Joy

General Education Requirements

VSCS Social Sciences

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

This course examines the multiple dimensions of health and wellness. Students learn about the various factors affecting each dimension (including physical, nutritional, emotional, social, occupational /financial) and understand how dimensions are interrelated. An emphasis is placed on the individual behaviors that influence health, physical fitness, and wellness as well as societal influences. Students participate in completing research and self-assessments that provide information about their health and wellness behavior. In addition, students learn goal-setting and decision strategies that improve lifetime health and wellness. Light to moderate levels of physical activity are required.

Essential Objectives

1. Examine the use of the scientific method to distinguish between well-researched evidence on health and wellness and fallacies and myths in this field.
2. Examine the concept of wellness and the role and responsibility of individuals and communities for overall health.
3. Differentiate between healing, preventative and treatment models from Eastern and Western perspectives.
4. Examine and assess models of behavioral change on the individual and societal level and apply these to individual lifestyle choices.
5. Understand the components of fitness, including cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength and flexibility, and assess personal fitness levels.
6. Recognize the components of healthy nutrition and understand personal dietary habits as they relate to standard guidelines.
7. Describe the physiology of stress and examine proactive and reactive tools for stress management.
8. Examine human sexuality and the components of healthy relationships.
9. Describe common challenges to mental wellness and ways of coping with them.
10. Identify the impact of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs on health and learn how to make responsible decisions about substance use and abuse.
11. Identify barriers to wellness including unconscious biases, systemic racism, and poverty, and describe how they affect different populations in their quest for wellness.
12. Demonstrate proficiency in understanding, interpreting, evaluating and applying quantitative data and information.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

*** This is a low cost ($50 or less) textbook or resource class. ***

AHS-2120-VO02 Link to Textbooks/Resources Information for this course in eCampus.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Methods

METHODS AND CONTENT:

In this online class, your engaging, well-researched, meaningful participation through discussion board posts and responses, assignments, and projects is not only part of your attendance in the course but is also part of your grade. In order for our class to be successful and reach its full potential, we need to ensure that everyone is taking the time and putting their best efforts into our ongoing class conversation. This will include your timely response to discussion board prompts which will often include initial response as well as your interaction with and responses to other students’ posts. In order for this to happen effectively, I am requesting and expecting that your work will reflect meaningful thought, critical thinking skills, solid attempts at answering the questions presented as well as useful, appropriate and thorough responses to other students when required. Not only will this help facilitate greater learning and a deeper understanding of the material for everyone, it will also allow all of us to hold effective conversations together as we work through the information or topic at hand and also learn from each other. Each assignment will vary with regards to length requirements and due dates and these will both be clearly visible in the original assignment post. Please be sure to tune into due dates and length requirements which will be posted every Monday for the week's assignments.

Evaluation Criteria

GRADING:

There are no quizzes or exams for this class. Grading is based on your journal entries and how fully you completed the weekly or daily assignments and answered the questions. You will have regular journaling and there will be videos and handouts to read and respond to as well. Your grade is based on your depth of response, covering the entire assignment and completing the assignments in a timely manner. There are no right or wrong answers in your journal as long as you are taking the time to cover the material and honestly respond and take part in your assignments and class. There will also be a research paper and presentation and a final wellness project which you will receive further details about.

CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING THE FINAL GRADE:

30% Class Participation/Performance

20% Projects-A research project, a summarized/critiqued wellness article & class projects

20% Individual Wellness Project

30% Journal

__________

100%

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Participation Expectations

In this online class, your engaging, well-researched, meaningful participation through discussion board posts and responses, assignments, and projects is not only part of your attendance in the course but is also part of your grade. In order for our class to be successful and reach its full potential, we need to ensure that everyone is taking the time and putting their best efforts into our ongoing class conversation. This will include your timely response to discussion board prompts which will often include initial response as well as your interaction with and responses to other students’ posts. In order for this to happen effectively, I am requesting and expecting that your work will reflect meaningful thought, critical thinking skills, solid attempts at answering the questions presented as well as useful, appropriate and thorough responses to other students when required. Not only will this help facilitate greater learning and a deeper understanding of the material for everyone, it will also allow all of us to hold effective conversations together as we work through the information or topic at hand and also learn from each other. Each assignment will vary with regards to length requirements and due dates and these will both be clearly visible in the original assignment post. Please be sure to tune into due dates and length requirements which will be posted every Monday for the week assignments.

Missing & Late Work Policy

Late Policy-

It will be critical for everyone to stay on top of their work and timing. All of our work is inter-related and builds on our initial foundation that will be created in the first several weeks. In order for this to flow and make the most sense and offer the most benefit for each of you, work done in a timely manner will be vital so that we can all move through the class together. With that in mind, late work will be penalized by a 5% decrease in grade for every late day. I do recognize that there are submission issues than can happen and situations that can present themselves in life that may interfere with timing and schoolwork. These situations will be taken on a case by case basis. I hope that everyone has a smooth, healthy, safe semester but if situations present themselves, please feel free to contact me so we can figure out a game plan to help you get back on track and successfully complete the course.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity